NEW ORLEANS — When Duke Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski addressed the fans at Cameron Indoor Stadium for the last time in March, he let the Cameron Crazies know that the loss to North Carolina was not the end of the road for his coaching career.
“Today was unacceptable, but the season has been very acceptable,” Krzyzewski said. “And I’ll tell you, the season isn’t over.
Coach K wasn’t lying.
Duke has gone on a tear in the NCAA tournament, beating Cal State Fullerton, Michigan State, Texas Tech, and Arkansas to reach the Final Four in New Orleans. It’s the 13th and final Final Four for Krzyzewski, as the all-time great will finally call it quits after the season ends. So, while the season isn’t over, it’s certainly drawing to a close, as is the career of the all-time winningest coach in college basketball history.
All the greats of years past will descend upon New Orleans in order to witness Coach K attempt to win his sixth national championship, in his 42nd year as head coach of Duke basketball.
“I’m just excited for Coach,” Duke great Carlos Boozer told The Daily Wire. “He’s been through a lot in his 42 years, very successful of course. But for this team to come together at the right time, playing their best basketball, at the end of the season with Coach K’s last two games, last Final Four. A lot of us are here of course to witness it. I’m just proud of these guys for taking on the pressure. We never had that pressure of Coach K’s last season. We don’t know what that feels like, only those guys in that uniform do. But we’re here to support him, cheer him on, and hopefully celebrate with him on Monday.”
The pressure will never be greater, as Duke and North Carolina will face off for the third time this season on Saturday, and for the first time ever in the NCAA tournament. The matchup will be the 258th in the history of the rivalry, and there’s never been more on the line.
“I really think each of us was a different team,” Krzyzewski said at his Tuesday press conference. “We were different when we played them there (Feb. 5), and so were they. Then we played them here (March 5), they had developed into an outstanding team, and we weren’t at that time. We’re going to have two really good teams play against one another (on Saturday). Whereas, the last two games, we were better than them at that point, and they were better than us at the other point. And, now, we’ll see what happens.”
They most certainly are different teams.
In their first game, an early February matchup in Chapel Hill, Duke outrebounded North Carolina 40-24, at one point holding a 28-point lead in a 87-67 Blue Devils victory. Junior forward Armando Bacot was held to just 12 points and five rebounds for North Carolina. In their March matchup in Durham, the script was flipped, with Bacot scoring 23 points on 10-11 shooting in a 94-81 North Carolina victory to ruin Coach K’s farewell. Since then, Bacot has been spectacular, grabbing double-digit rebounds in all four of the Tar Heels’ NCAA tournament games.
Duke is rolling, boasting a roster with four potential first round draft picks, and a top-five pick in Paolo Banchero.
Boozer thinks his Blue Devils are ready, playing their best basketball of the season.
“They’re locked in. They’re focused, they’re ready,” Boozer told The Daily Wire. “They’ve been having great practices, they’re finally completely healthy. Everybody from top to bottom is healthy. So, they’re going into the Final Four the best they’ve played all season.”
It’s college basketball at its finest, with the end of an era potentially one game away. The first two games are a long forgotten memory, but for fans of college basketball, the memories of Saturday’s matchup at the Superdome in New Orleans will last a lifetime.
Joe Morgan is the Sports Reporter for The Daily Wire. Most recently, Morgan covered the Clippers, Lakers and the NBA for Sporting News. Send your sports questions to [email protected].
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
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